Charges may loom for fired cop

By Ana Ley :
December 14, 2012
: Updated: December 15, 2012 12:32am

Officer Michael Garza, a 10-year veteran of the department, seen in an undated photo provided by the San Antonio Police Deptartment, was indefinitely suspended effective Nov. 20 following a July 27 incident in which he shot and killed the ex-boyfriend of his lover.

Photo By John Davenport/San Antonio Express-News

An investigation is pending whether Michael Garza was justified in killing Alfredo Aragon.

Photo By John Davenport/San Antonio Express-News

Michael Garza, the recently fired police officer suspected of drinking on the job the night he fatally shot his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend, could face manslaughter or murder charges if the Bexar County district attorney's office determines the shooting was unjustified, officials said Friday.

Adriana Biggs, chief of the district attorney's white collar crimes division, stressed the case is an ongoing investigation. But she acknowledged the sequence of events leading up to the fatal shooting July 27 of Alfredo Hector Aragon “raises some eyebrows.”

The Police Department placed Garza, 33, on indefinite suspension, which is tantamount to being fired. A letter signed by Chief William McManus outlining the reasons for the suspension was released this week.

The letter says an internal investigation determined Garza had lied, consumed alcohol while on duty, failed to fulfill his responsibility to serve the public, and misused a city cellphone and vehicle.

The letter concludes Garza didn't tell his supervisor or fellow officers when he went to help girlfriend Abigail Hernandez after she told him Aragon had threatened her, and later lied about how the shooting unfolded.

Biggs said her office has received preliminary information about the case, but prosecutors are waiting for more information from police so they can “review the case in its totality” before bringing it to a grand jury.

A timeline for that hasn't been set, she said.

Whenever an officer is involved in a shooting, a two-pronged investigation is launched. One is by Internal Affairs, the other by a police team that, along with the district attorney's office, investigates whether the officer was justified in firing and if any laws were broken.

Though all police-involved shootings are scrutinized by the district attorney's office, Biggs said, and “at first blush, (Garza's case) was unusual.”

Garza originally told officers he was contacted about 2 a.m. July 27 by Hernandez, who told him Aragon was threatening her and that she wanted to be picked up and taken home.

According to the letter released this week, she was at the Thirsty Horse Saloon in the 2300 block of Northwest Military Drive after Garza dropped her off there about 10:30 p.m. July 26 — while on the clock for his usual 7 p.m.-to-3 a.m. shift as an undercover Gang Unit officer.

The initial police report stated that after Garza picked up Hernandez and took her back to her apartment, they saw Aragon sitting in his car in the parking lot and that he shot at them while they waited for the security gate to open.

But according to the suspension letter, Hernandez and Aragon, who have a child together, argued in the parking lot before the shooting began.

Aragon continued to fire at them as they drove away, according to the letter and the police report, striking Garza's unmarked police truck 12 times and wounding Hernandez in the arm and abdomen.

At some point, Garza began pursuing Aragon and followed him about 1.7 miles, according to the letter, until they arrived at Aragon's home in the 2300 block of Field Wood Drive.

Garza shot Aragon three times — in the right foot, right arm and back — at the front door of Aragon's home. The first officers on the scene found Aragon motionless and handcuffed, the police report states.

Garza was uninjured.

The letter says Garza “failed to use sound judgment when, after being fired upon and having a wounded civilian in his city vehicle,” he chased Aragon.

Mike Helle, president of the San Antonio Police Officers Association, said while Garza's firing is related to the events of July 27, his punishment is the result of an Internal Affairs investigation into procedural or administrative violations. The letter details seven violations of department rules.

Garza, a 10-year SAPD veteran, is appealing the suspension, which was effective Nov. 20.